Solar Panel & Pandora Heat Store

[Croxley]

I'm currently planning a loft conversion & want to upgrade the hot water system to a mains pressure system. I'd also like to take advantage of the scaffolding to put a solar panel on the roof to help heat the water. Has anyone married a Navitron panel to a DPS 'Pandora' heat sink? They have an option for a dedicated solar coil at the bottom of the tank. I'd also be interested if anyone can advise me about the weight of a 20 tube Navitron panel? The 500kg mentioned on the site can't be right can it?

TIA
Paul

[Antman]

Paul

I can't comment specifically on the Pandora but if there is an option for a solar coil in the store then it should work OK. I note from the DPS site that the Store runs at 70+ degrees C - presumably to improve the efficiency of the plate heat exchanger. This means that the solar controller will need to be programmed with appropriately higher limits than for an unvented cylinder.

The 20-tube panel SFB20 is spec'd at 55kg according to the datasheet in the Navitron manual. It is quite heavy - the manifold and frame assembled is 'enough' to lift up on the roof on your own, although this is more due to the size of the assembled frame. Any roof structure designed to the current Building Regs should take this weight no problem. In any case the load is spread.

Bear in mind that you cannot fit the tubes until after the pipework is filled and the control system is operational. If the tubes are fitted for any length of time with no circulating water in the manifold, they are likely to suffer damage due to excess heat build-up. Therefore in terms of timing, you need to be able to complete the installation,  installing the tubes last, before finally removing the scaffolding.

Regards

Ant

[Ivan]

Yes, the 20tube 47mm panel is 55kg. The figure of 500kg on the online shop is just to calculate the shipping correctly - as we have to make up custom wooden crates for shipping the panel, and the theoretical weight of 500kg takes this into account when calculating shipping

Ivan